Dreamer
by HappyBunny1
Summary: Being given the opportunity of a lifetime, what would you do? Escape your world and all of its hardships? Or stay behind with the only home and family you've ever known? (is a little angsty and is not in the form of the widely popular YOU story)


Author's Note: Hi. How's it goin'? I wrote this short story (that takes place 19 years after the movie) because it had been bothering the living hell out of me and I had to write it down before I went mad. I was going to put it in first person but I then decided to keep it this way because I think it looks better. But you tell me. And now this is the (really long) product... so enjoy... :-)  
  
Summary: Being given the opportunity of a lifetime, what would YOU do? Escape your world and all of its hardships? Or stay behind with the only home and family you've ever known?  
  
Disclaimer: I own this much: 0  
  
*~*~*  
  
Dreamer  
  
Isabelle was always a dreamer.  
  
A dreamer with beautiful dreams of freedom, love, and adventure. A dreamer who loved the sea and the water that lay beyond the horizon more than the air she would breathe. She held her dreams close, locking them away behind her practical, ladylike facade.  
  
But a lady she was. She was Commodore Norrington's daughter. She was forced by her heritage to lead the life of a proper woman of the aristocracy. The confines of this boring world were nothing less than suffocating, and this world encompassed only Port Royale and its beaches.  
  
She wanted to escape. She wanted to sail the oceans blue with nothing but the wind in her hair and the sea spread out before her. She wanted to be a pirate.  
  
But, oh, how her father hated pirates. If he would learn of her deepest secret, she would surely be reprimanded and would immediately be married off to a man who would make sure she would fulfill her duty as all the Port Royale women do.  
  
Isabelle had her father's dark eyes. But most of her features she had gotten from her mother. She had light brown hair and a shapely figure that any woman would dream of. She had a light tan from spending so much of her time out and about in the town under the sun.  
  
She saw piracy as the only way out of that cage that she called a life. But her father saw her life as a chance to find a suitable husband that could provide her with everything money could buy.  
  
Her father and the rest of her wealthy relatives had close ties to Governor Swann and his family who included the well-known Elizabeth and Will Turner. Isabelle had tea and crumpets everyday with their daughter, Mary-Ann. She was fiercely jealous of the pirate blood that ran through her veins, yet she admired her and idolized her.  
  
She had also heard that there was a bit of, shall we say, animosity between her father and Jack Sparrow, the infamous, highly idolized pirate.  
  
*~*~*  
  
Every morning at dawn Isabelle would step out onto the docks only half a mile away from her father's house to watch the sun rise and make brighter her small world. She would sit on the wooden planks that so many feet had walked upon and she would dangle her feet over, letting only the biggest waves touch her ankles. She would imagine a ship sailing over the horizon to come and carry her away from that life of boredom, misery, and sameness. But that dream ship never came, or at least she didn't see it.  
  
That morning Isabelle sat there like she would any other morning. As the first rays of the sun began to creep up above the horizon, she sighed and stood up. She took one last glance at the sun and the deep Caribbean before turning around.  
  
As she spun around, she slammed right into someone. She stumbled backwards, completely forgetting that she was at the edge of the dock. As her right foot went back, she realized that her foot wasn't touching the dock and she began to fall backwards... right into the water.  
  
Her yelp of surprise was quickly swallowed up by the sea. She swam back up to the surface of the water, ready to yell at whoever it was that walked right into her. Her head popped up and all she saw was a tanned, calloused hand reaching down to grab her own. She grasped the hand without even glancing up to see who it belonged to.  
  
"Thank you for helping me." She said properly as she tried to ring some of the water out of the bottom of her very expensive, very tight Victorian dress.  
  
" 'S all right, love. That was my fault. Shoulda been watching wear I was going." The man that had bumped into her continued to look at her as she finally gave up ringing out her dress.  
  
"Oh, It's quite all right. And I too should have been watching where I was going as well." She looked up and paused for a moment. She studied his face and his features. He had a dark tan, as if he had been in the sun too long and he slightly wobbled like he was drunk. He had this beautiful light brown eyes that just bubbled over with wisdom (if you want to call it that) from his years. He had long dark hair, or at least most of it was dark. He had a streak or two of gray that had probably been there a while but his small beard and mustache were dark without a single hint of a lighter color. He wore a red bandana and a very old tricorn hat and his clothes were old and worn.  
  
He looked like the Jack Sparrow Mary-Ann had described in her story. Isabelle had heard of Sparrow from Mary-Ann who told her of a time when Jack teamed up with Will Turner to save Mary-Ann's mother from certain death. Isabelle never forgot it.  
  
Jack stared at her strangely. "I'm..." he paused for a moment, wondering if her should tell her his real name, but then he decided it wouldn't hurt, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Lovely meetin' you." He staggered drunkenly for a moment and then held out his hand to shake her own.  
  
She looked at him and gasped in delight. A million thoughts piled on top of one another in her head. 'This was Jack Sparrow. THE Jack Sparrow. The man who saved my friends parents. The captain of the infamous Black Pearl. The pirate.'  
  
"It's wonderful to meet you...uh, Captain Sparrow. I've heard so much about you!" She smiled pleasantly and shook his hand, not wanting to scare him away.  
  
*~*~*  
  
"A pirate, eh?" Jack Sparrow said with a hint of surprise in his voice. He was a bit puzzled as to a why a woman of her social status would want to abandon everything and head out onto the high seas.  
  
"Yes, a pirate." Isabelle said as she looked down at her own legs and then out at the Caribbean.  
  
The two were now sitting on the docks together, just letting their legs hang over the side. They had been sitting their nearly half an hour talking about everything and nothing. They talked about his first trip to Port Royale and about how he saved Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann some years ago.  
  
"I never caught yer name, love." He said, looking over at her. He didn't look at her lustily like he had with barmaids and harlots, and besides, she was only 19. He looked at her as more of a daughterly figure, even though he had just met her.  
  
"I'm Isabelle... Norrington." Shame was weaved throughout her voice as she spoke. Shame that she actually wanted to give up the opportunities that came with her high standing name. Shame that Jack would be disgusted with her because she was the daughter of an enemy.  
  
Jack chuckled for a moment and then hiccupped, as if he had a little too much to drink. "Norrignton, eh? The Commodore always played by the book, he did. And you're his kid? Ah yes, you got his eyes." He said, looking at her.  
  
"I suppose I do."  
  
Jack suddenly felt uncomfortable and that usually never happened, especially if he was in the presence of a woman. He was generally suave and calm and knew just what to say and do. But this time he was speechless and wanted nothing more than to get up and leave.  
  
"Sorry, love. I've got ta go. Got a crew waitin' for me." He stood up quickly and Isabelle stood up as well. But she had a look of excitement in her eyes.  
  
"Crew? You mean the crew of the Black Pearl!?!" She squeaked.  
  
Her voice was becoming too high-pitched for Jack and he looked at her cautiously with his head tilted back, similar to the way he would look at Anna Maria when she would become infuriated or a little too overly pleasant for his tastes.  
  
"Aye... The Pearl. But enough with the chit-chat, I've got ta be goin'." He turned around and walked away and left Isabelle standing there, speechless.  
  
She just had a conversation with a pirate who was feared all over the Caribbean, but she was almost sad he had to leave. "Good bye, Captain." She called out and then turned back around to get one last peaceful look at the sea.  
  
But Jack, on the other hand, stopped dead in his tracks. Her voice sounded so hopeless and desperate, so alone and unhappy.  
  
He whipped around and stared at the young woman, whose back was turned to him. She was just staring out at the sea, the way he had when he was a child.  
  
Jack usually didn't do this, actually, he never did this. But there was always a first time for everything.  
  
"You... um, Isabelle." He said, still unsure whether or not to continue calling her by 'love'.  
  
Isabelle turned around, thoroughly surprised that Jack was still even on the dock. "Yes?"  
  
"It's quite obvious that you don't fancy staying here with your less-than- pleasant father and you even said yourself that piracy was your way to freedom... So how would you like to be free?" He staggered once again and smiled his infamous Sparrow smile.  
  
Isabelle desperately wanted to put her thoughts into words and sentences, but there was just too much on her mind that even she couldn't comprehend.  
  
He was offering her her dreams on a silver platter. He was effortlessly giving her what she had searched for all her life.  
  
Her stunned silence seemed to give Jack the answer he was expecting and he walked up to her and grabbed her hand. He walked off the dock and she willingly came with him.  
  
"Wh-Where are we going?" She asked as they walked along the streets of Port Royale. She didn't know at the time, but he was taking her to another, hidden, dock near by which harbored his own ship, the Black Pearl.  
  
The two got strange looks from the townsfolk. Some looked at them in surprise because it was hard to believe that a woman such as Isabelle was being dragged around by a grubby looking man like Sparrow. Some looked at them in anger and disgust for the same reason. But most seemed to be minding their own business.  
  
They walked to where his hidden ship was, which was just out of sight of the town on almost the other side of the island. Jack and Isabelle slowed down as they stepped onto the dock.  
  
Isabelle stopped and stared at the well-known ship in wonder and amazement. She was like a kid in a candy store. She shielded her eyes from the sun as she looked on with wide eyes.  
  
The Black Pearl's sails were tattered and torn, but she didn't care. The ship was dirty and old, but she thought that made the ship even more wonderful. Some of the wooden planks were splintered and falling into disrepair, but she expected that.  
  
But then she noticed something. "Sparrow... Jack... Captain... um, where's the crew?"  
  
"There out and about in the town gettin' supplies and things of that sort." Jack answered with a shrug of his shoulders.  
  
Jack walked closer to the ship and then that's when Isabelle noticed there was a rope ladder hanging off the side of the ship. Jack climbed up this ladder and hopped onto the deck.  
  
"C' mon up, love." He said, motioning happily to Isabelle. "The crew should be here soon and then we're off." Jack would enjoy her company and besides, welcoming her onboard would be a painful thorn in the Commodore's side.  
  
Isabelle slowly walked up to the ship and grabbed the sides of the ladder, but as she put her foot on the first rung, she stopped. Jack had, by then, walked away so he didn't see her hesitation.  
  
Isabelle couldn't believe this was actually happening.  
  
This was her chance, her chance of a lifetime... and she was scared. She hesitated and once more a thousand thoughts flooded her mind.  
  
This was her way to freedom, but she was having second thoughts. At that very moment, she wondered if she really wanted to abandon the life, the home, the people that she had grown up with and known since she was a child.  
  
Isabelle looked at the waves that were gently rocking back and forth. She was raging a battle with herself. She was being pulled in two directions. She didn't know whether to grab this opportunity with both hands or let it silently drift away. She was confused, lost, angry, frustrated, sad.  
  
This was all going on in her head in a matter of minutes. And at that moment, she knew she was making her future.  
  
*~*~*  
  
She will always regret her decision. The opportunity that she forfeit will haunt her until the day she dies. It will linger in her thoughts and dreams. She will always think of how everything could've been different.  
  
But, in all actuality, it couldn't have been any other way. She couldn't have chosen any other path than the one her father had already planned for her.  
  
It was difficult to say no to Jack, who leaned over the side of the ship waiting for her. It was difficult to walk away. It was difficult to accept her fears. It was difficult to go back to her home. It was difficult to look her father in the eye.  
  
Her choice and all of it's consequences and rewards were difficult.  
  
Isabelle didn't understand. She wished that nothing was harder than it seemed. She wished she could replay everything. But luck is scarce and second chances are few. And now Isabelle has finally come to terms with that.  
  
*~*~*  
  
Isabelle Norrington Johnson is an old woman now.  
  
Her hair has grown gray and her bones have become fragile. Her eyes have dulled down with the wisdom from her years and her skin holds the obvious evidence of her age. Her perspective has changed as well. She no longer demands the freedom she had once been so desperate for. Now, she only looks back on her younger years with nostalgia, although she still wishes that she could've gone back on her decision.  
  
She's now married to a man that her father had chosen for her only weeks after her final visit to the docks. She stopped watching the sun rise over Port Royale the day she stopped looking for that ship to come rescue her, because it had come, but she turned it away.  
  
Shortly after she and this man that she didn't even know were married, she was pregnant and she gave birth to a son. She wanted to name him Jack, but her father fiercely opposed that name. In the end, she named him James.  
  
And now her son is married to a woman that Isabelle completely approves of. Perhaps that's because her son's wife is so much like Isabelle.  
  
Isabelle has two beautiful granddaughters. They always ask her to tell them stories of her life but she never mentioned, not even to her husband, about the chance that she dismissed.  
  
But a woman can dream and Isabelle was always good with that. And sometimes, when she closes her eyes, she can see the Caribbean and in the distance is the Black Pearl waiting for her.  
  
...But Isabelle was always a dreamer...  
  
*~*~*  
  
Author's Note: Sweet mother of pearl, that turned out a hell of a lot more weepy than I had planned. And I seemed to drag that out as well. Oh well, still looks good. But that's just what I think. I want YOUR analysis of my should've-been-more-than-one-chapter-long story. 


End file.
